Degrassi Season 12, Episode 4: A Friendly Competit
by Crayton Sale
Summary: Clara decides to run for president but when Rose suggests black mailing her oppenent,Danielle, Clara becomes nervous. Drew competes with a new guy for Q.B. one. Adam decides not to talk to Kitty leaving Clare and Eli to save the day. Please Review!


Degrassi: The Next Generation

Season 12

Episode 4: A Friendly Competition

The club fair at Degrassi has once again started up. Students can now sign up for various clubs that Degrassi offers. The most prestigious of all the clubs, however, is the Student Body Council. Marco got up on a small stage in the center of the lobby to talk about the club fair, and the Student Body Council elections.

"Attention students of Degrassi!" Marco shouted. "Welcome to the Degrassi Club Fair. For just one day, we close down classes and go around and learn about clubs and sign up for them. Pretty self explanatory. Now, if any of you are interested in running for Degrassi Student Body President or a council position or just to be part of the council, please come see me after this announcement and I will give you more details. Campaigning will start tomorrow and the elections will be held on Friday. Being president is a big responsibility, but speaking as a former president, I assure you, it's a rewarding job. Thank you and have fun today."

"Wow, that sounds like a really dorky job," Dave said to Wesley, Clara, and Sophie.

"I don't know, I kind of want to run now," Clara smiled. "What do you think, Wesley?"

"I'd say go for it," Wesley replied with enthusiasm. Clara smiled.

"You'd be perfect for the job," Sophie said. "You'd have my vote."

"Mine, too," Wesley said raising his hand.

"I guess you'll have mine, too," Dave said trying to fit in.

"Thanks, guys!" Clara said excited. "I'm going to talk to Mr. Del Rossi right now." Clara walked over to Marco's booth.

"Hi, Mr. Del Rossi," Clara said confidently.

"Oh, please, call me Marco," Marco smiled. "What can I help you with?"

"I want to run for Student Council President," Clara said.

"Great," Marco said. "What's your name?"

"Clara Burn," Clara smiled. Marco wrote down her name. "You're all signed up. I'm assuming you're joining the council even if you lose?"

"Of course," Clara smiled.

"Danielle Goode," Danielle said coming up from behind Clara. "G-O-O-D-E. I'm running for president."

"Okay," Marco said. "Danielle, got you." Marco smiled. "Good luck to both of you. Campaigning begins tomorrow and elections are Friday." Clara and Danielle nodded.

"Good luck to you," Danielle said to Clara.

"Thanks, you too," Clara said. They parted ways and Clara started walking back over to her friends. Rose stepped in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Rose," She introduced herself.

"I'm Clara," Clara smiled.

"So you're running for president?" Rose asked.

"Yea, I'm really excited."

"I see Danielle is your competition." Clara looked over at Danielle who was looking at a club summary.

"Yeah, she's nice," Clara said turning back to Rose.

"I wouldn't say she's completely sugar and candy," Rose said.

"What do you mean?"

"She maybe nice on the outside, but I just happen to be her co-captain on the Power Squad, and let's just say that whole nice routine is what she puts on to get what she wants."

"That's not very good," Clara said shyly.

"Luckily, I know how to handle girls like her."

"You do?" Clara asked interested.

"Of course, I can guarantee you will be the next Student Body Council president." Clara was unsure if she wanted to take Rose's assistance. "Just make me your campaign manager." Clara pondered over the proposition and then smiled to Rose in agreement.

(Insert current theme song and new credits)

Kitty looked around at some of the clubs that Degrassi offered. She was looking to find a photography club or anything to get her mind off of Adam.

"See anything you like?" Clare asked walking up to her.

"Not yet, but I'm looking," Kitty replied with a weak smile.

"What's wrong?"

"Have you talked to Adam lately? He won't answer my calls or texts. I think he got the wrong idea when I told him that I didn't know if I had feelings for him or not."

"But I thought you had feelings for Adam."

"I do, I think. I'm not sure, but I know that I do want to be his friend."

"Have you tried talking to him in person?" At that moment Adam passed Clare and Kitty. Clare motioned for Kitty to go talk to him.

"Wait right here," she said. She walked over to Adam. "Adam!" Adam stopped and turned around as if Kitty was bothering him. "You haven't returned my calls or texts. What's up?"

"I don't really like to talk to people who lead me on," Adam said sternly.

"I never lead you on, Adam," Kitty said.

"Yeah, well you could've fooled me," Adam huffed.

"Adam!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Don't talk to me," Adam commanded. Adam stormed off leaving kitty standing in confusion. Clare rushed over to see what had happened.

"What did he say?" Clare asked.

"He told me not to talk to him again," Kitty replied.

At another side of the fair…

Drew was looking at athletics. He wanted to find a spring sport to try out for next semester. He didn't just want football to be the only sport he played this year. He stumbled across the booth for baseball. He started looking at some brochures as a guy walked up beside him.

"Thinking of trying out for baseball next semester?" the guys asked.

"Uh, yeah," Drew replied. "I want to play something other than just football."

"Ah, so you're a football player," the guy said.

"Yeah, Q.B. one."

"Nice. Looks like you have some competition. I played quarterback one at Bardell and I was also there star pitcher on their baseball team."

"Impressive." Drew suddenly became nervous but didn't show it.

"I'm Garrett."

"Drew." They shook hands. "Just so you know, I will be Q.B. one." Garrett chuckled widely showing his pearly white teeth.

"Well, we'll see about that."

"Dude, you're like a stick."

"And that's the mistake people make. Start practicing for baseball season and I'll see you after school for football tryouts." Garrett walked off. Drew was trying to figure out exactly what Garrett was trying to say when he said mistake.

Meanwhile…

Clara walked back over to her friends after signing up to run for president and talking to Rose. Sophie met Clara halfway as she walked back.

"Well I'm all set," Clara smiled. "Campaigning begins tomorrow."

"That's great," Sophie said. "But why were you talking to Rose?"

"Oh, she offered to be my campaign manager," Clara smiled.

"You're letting her help you!" Sophie exclaimed. Clara looked confused. "Did you not attend Bardell?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"What's going on?" Dave asked as he and Wesley caught up with the girls.

"I don't see what going to Bardell has to do with Rose being my campaign manager," Clara said to Sophie ignoring Dave and Wesley.

"That's Rose James," Sophie said. "She's one of the most vindictive people in this school. How do you know she's not going to sabotage your campaign?"

"How come you can't be a supportive friend?" Clara said. Clara ran off. Wesley looked at Dave and Sophie and rushed after Clara. Sophie shook her head.

At another end of the fair…

Clare has finally found Eli relaxing on a bench eating his daily apple and reading the latest comic book.

"Have you seen Adam?" Clare asked.

"What?" Eli asked grinning. "No 'hello Eli,' 'how are you sweetie,' a kiss on the cheek maybe?"

"Not now, Eli, this is serious," Clare said with a straight face. "Adam is really upset with Kitty."

"How upset?" Eli asked curiously.

"He never wants to speak to her again."

"Why would he never want to speak to her again? He's infatuated by her."

"That's what I don't know. I figured since you're his best friend, he would have come talk to you."

"Actually, I haven't seen him all day. Where's Kitty though?"

"She's signing up for the photography club."

"Okay. Stay with Kitty. I'll go find Adam and ask him what's up?" Clare smiled and leaned in and kissed him. "What's that for?"

"For being the best boyfriend." Eli smirked and Clare smiled.

Football tryouts…

Coach Armstrong always had the guys scrimmage each other at tryouts to evaluate the guys skills and see who's right for the team and who isn't. Drew was trying very hard to impress Coach Armstrong so that he could be Q.B. one. However, Garrett was playing great. Every time Drew thought he was stepping up his game, Garrett always found a way to surpass him. Coach Armstrong blew the whistle to stop the scrimmage.

"Alright, fall in," he shouted. All of the guys crowded around Coach Armstrong. "Good day for tryouts. Tomorrow will be the final day to impress me and I'll post the results on Friday after I get your marks from your teachers. Remember, drink plenty of water and I will see you all tomorrow." The huddle broke up. Garrett walked over to Drew.

"Hey!" Garrett greeted. "You played great out there."

"Not as great as you," Drew chuckled..

"Eh, I was a little off today."

"Well, if that's how you play when you're having an off day, you must play like an NFL superstar when you're on your game."

"NFL is a little too much. I'm not that good."

"Drew!" Alli yelled from the bleachers. Drew looked over in her direction and smiled

"Looks like you have a fan," Garrett grinned.

"Yeah, that's my girlfriend," Drew said.

"Well she's a cutie," Garrett smiled. Drew and Garrett started walking over towards Alli.

"Yeah, well, the only problem is, after we got caught in the boiler room last year…"

"The boiler room," Garrett interrupted in a "that's scandalous" tone.

"We didn't do anything, we were talking. Anyways, people, particularly my mom, started to think she was a whore. Word got out to her parents, who are unbelievably strict Muslims, and now she's forbidden to see any guys whatsoever."

"So you guys are sneaking around."

"Exactly" They finally caught up to Alli and Drew kissed her as they greeted.

"I see you made a new friend," Alli said.

"Ah, yeah, this is Garrett," Drew said.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Alli," she said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Garrett smiled.

"Well, your girlfriend is very lucky to have a gentleman for a boyfriend," Alli joked. "But I've got the best gentleman" Alli smiled at Drew who gave a half smile.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Garrett said readjusting his shoulder pads. "Well, I'm going to got take off these pads. It was nice meeting you." Garrett left Alli and Drew and headed for the locker room.

"Well he seems really nice," Alli smiled to Drew.

"Yeah, and we'd probably be better friends if he wasn't competing for the same position I am," Drew said sternly.

"Just work harder to impress your coach and you're in," Alli said. "This time you can't blackmail someone to get what you want, you have to work for it, but I promise it'll be worth it." Drew smiled and the two of them left the field holding hands.

On the way home…

Eli had been looking for Adam all day. He finally found him on his way home from school. Eli rushed to catch up with him.

"Adam!" Eli shouted.

"What, Eli?" Adam grumbled.

"Where have you been all day?" Eli asked catching up to Adam.

"Around," Adam replied.

"Wrong answer. What is with you never speaking to Kitty again?"

"She doesn't have feelings for me."

"So you cut her from being your friend? Did she even say she didn't have feelings for you?"

"She said she didn't know how she felt about me. But it's for the better. Who wants to love a freak like me?"

"Kitty! It sounds like she's unsure about how she feels which means she's probably romantically interested in you but she's not sure how she wants to take it."

"Then why can't she just say that?"

"Because you're suppose to be smart enough to know that." Adam stopped. There was moment of silence. "From the way Clare told me, it sounded like Kitty was really hurt when you told her that you didn't want to speak to her anymore."

"She was?"

"Adam, if you keep assuming that no one is romantically interested in you because you're hiding something, then no one will be. But it sounds like Kitty really does like you."

"I probably messed things up with her though."

"The only way you're going to find out is if you talk to her." Adam nodded.

In the hallway at school…

Rose met up with Clara at her locker to discuss her strategy to help Clara win. She hoped that Clara would go for it.

"I have the perfect plan to get you elected," Rose smiled.

"What is it?" Clara asked excited.

"Well, you know how presidents are supposed to be professional and role models?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," Clara replied.

"Well yesterday, I just happened to stubble upon Danielle's Facebook page and I found a picture of her drinking a beer."

"So?"

"I'm pretty sure she's not nineteen. Now, what would the student body think if they had a president who partook in underage drinking?" Clara was unsure of this plan. "I simply print this picture and show the entire school exactly what kind of president it is they want." Rose held up a copy of the photo.

"But that's mean."

"Well, when it comes to politics, sometimes you have to play dirty to get what you want."

"But I don't want to trash someone's reputation just to be president."

"And who says she has a positive reputation? Besides, I already posted some of these photos all over school."

"What?" Clara exclaimed.

"Hey, Clara!" a guy yelled. "Is this how you expect to win?" The guy crumpled a photo and threw it at her. "Loser!" Clara looked upset at Rose.

"Hmm, maybe they won't vote for you. Oh, well. Good luck getting out of this." Rose smiled and walked off. Sophie walked up to Clara.

"I told you." Sophie said. She sighed and walked off. Clara felt like she was going to cry.

Thursday morning…

Adam had decided to take Eli's advice and talk to Kitty about what happened the previous week. He found her at her locker and walked over to her.

"Hey," he said softly. Kitty just looked at him and then went back to her locker.

"I thought I wasn't suppose to talk to you anymore," Kitty said.

"I know, but I changed my mind." Kitty just looked at him. "Please forgive me?"

"Why?"

"Because I was an idiot. I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were leading me on."

"Well I wasn't." There was a pause. "I have feelings for you Adam, I'm sure about that now. What I'm not sure of is if I'm ready to be in a relationship."

"So you do like me, but you don't know if you're ready to make a commitment."

"I mean, I spend most of my time with my cameras and when I'm not with my cameras I'm with my friends or doing homework. I'm scared that I might not have time for you which upsets me because I would really like to be with you."

"Well, what's the difference between us hanging out together with our friends and hanging out with just the two of us. I'm not asking you to spend every second with me. I'm fine with the four of us hanging out together and everyone has homework. I know you love your cameras, too." Adam thought for a moment. "What if we continue our normal routine and maybe every once in a while just set aside some time for us, like a date or something."

"And you'd be my boyfriend?"

"Unless you don't want me to be." Kitty pondered this proposition and then she smiled.

"Well, your proposal isn't exactly Nicholas Sparks, but it's super sweet." She smiled. She leaned in and kissed Adam. "Looks like you have yourself a girlfriend." Adam smiled and Kitty took his hand and they started walking to the assembly, hand in hand.

At the assembly…

Clara felt guilty about what Rose had done, so she decided to apologize to Danielle before the speeches. She walked over to Danielle, nervous about what she was going to say.

"Um, excuse me?" Clara said nervously. Danielle turned to her looking angry.

"What do you want?" she grumbled.

"I wanted to apologize for the photos. Rose said she would help me win the election but I didn't know that's what she had in mind."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I hope you will forgive me. I don't want to ruin your reputation just so I could be president. I mean, I really want to be president because I feel like I can help better the school like to help balance money for class materials and materials for after school clubs, but I don't want to have to sink low to do that. That wouldn't be a very noble thing to do." Danielle pondered this for a moment but Marco began to speak.

"Thank you all for attending the debate for Degrassi's Student Body Presidential election," Marco said. Clara and Danielle took their seats on the stage. "First up to giver\ her speech will be Danielle Goode." Everyone clapped as Danielle stepped up to the podium.

"Thank you, fellow classmates," she began. "I want to be Student Body president because I want to prove that you don't have to be popular or smart in order to help your school out and despite being from Bardell, Degrassi is my school now and I want to make it a better place for everyone. Thank you." Everyone clapped as Danielle took her seat. Clara got up sheepishly and walked over to the podium, there were few claps but not a lot. She looked out into the audience and became frightened.

"He-hello, my name is Clara Burn," she started softly. "Um, I want to be your class president because I want to help better the school as well. I want to help balance the money that the school is given and equally distribute it among classes and clubs. I want to help improve the lunch line, beautify the school…"

"And ruin people's reputations!" a shouted from the audience.

"That's all," Clara said softly rushing back to her seat. A majority of the audience started booing her.

"Hey, post a picture of me killing cats!" someone yelled. Clara looked like she was about to cry. Danielle looked at Clara and then stood up and walked over to the podium.

"Excuse me!" she exclaimed. "Clara didn't post the pictures of me around school, I did!" The room fell silent. "I wanted to make her look bad so that I would win. I feel really guilty for doing it and I'm sorry. Thank you." Danielle sat back down with pride. The room was silent. Marco got up and walked over to the podium.

"Um, that will be all," Marco said. "Uh, don't forget tomorrow is election day and the winners will be revealed on the afternoon announcements." Everyone began to file out. Clara looked at Danielle who began to follow everyone else.

"Danielle!" Clara shouted. Danielle stopped and turned to Clara who came rushing over to her. "Why did you take the wrap for me?"

"Because I know you didn't really post those pictures of me," she replied. "I also know that you really want this and to be honest, I just like competing. I didn't really care if I won or not. So, I took the wrap because I know you'd make the better president."

"But what if I don't win?"

"Then I'll drop out. Being the vice-president, you in turn would become the president."

"Thanks, Danielle." Danielle smiled and left the gym.

Friday morning…

The list for the football team was posted outside of the gym. Drew had done all he could to prove himself worthy of being Q.B. one. He walked over to the list. He made the team but unfortunately he was Q.B. two.

"Sorry, man," Garrett said. "Maybe next year."

"Yeah, there's always next year," Drew said disappointedly.

Friday afternoon…

The whole student body was waiting in lobby, gathered around the large screen TV eagerly awaiting the results of the elections.

"So how did you get Danielle to confess?" Sophie asked Clara.

"Actually, she was covering for me," Clara explained. "I told her what happened with Rose and Danielle saw how important this was to me." Sophie gave her a "yeah right" look. "She also said that she really didn't want to win. She just wanted to compete."

"Well I hope she saved you," Sophie said.

"Don't worry, she said she'll step down if she wins," Clara said. "And I've learned my lesson. I will not be doing anymore business with Rose."

"Good, I'm glad," Sophie smiled.

"And now it's time for the election results," Marco smiled.

"Fingers crossed," Sophie said to Clara. Suspense started building as adrenaline rushed through Clara's body.

"And your new Student Body Council President is," Marco began. There was a short pause. "Ms. Clara Burns. Congratulations."

(Insert "Shut Up and Kiss Me")

Everyone began to cheer as Clara screamed with joy.

"I did it!" she exclaimed.

"I'm so proud of you!" Sophie shouted in excitement.

"Good job," Danielle said passing by.

"Thank you so much," Clara smiled. Danielle nodded. Clara turned to Sophie. "I have to find Wesley!" Clara and Sophie fought through the crowd until they found Wesley.

"Clara!" Wesley exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" she replied. She kissed him on the lips and when she pulled away Wesley was in shock. Clara laughed. "You're too cute." Wesley smiled as they embraced and continued to celebrate.

End of Episode Four

Soundtrack: "Shut Up and Kiss Me" by Orianthi (Album: Believe; Interscope Records)

Next Time: The Strange Familiar

Clara is working hard with the start of her presidency and being busy with her new boyfriend, Wesley. But all of Clara's success is beginning to spark jealousy with Sophie who feels ignored and left out. Will Wesley and Student Council tear these two BFFs apart?

Eli's life is finally starting to return to normal. He's learned to put his past behind him and move forward with the help of his girlfriend, Clare. But when Eli decides to attend a Degrassi football game at the field of his old school, a familiar face shows up at the game that could cause his past to return to haunt him and destroy his progress of moving forward.


End file.
